This is a really interesting and constructive thread, and I’d like to add my two cents as someone with a professional outlook.
First, as has been observed, living in the NY/NJ area is fiendishly expensive, and the job opportunities are scarce. (Looking for jobs only within the Jewish community is a good way to stay unemployed or working poor – ask any yeshiva rebbe or administrator. Frum businesses also tend to pay less).
Second, the economy is changing even more since the crash. Even a general college degree does not bring a job automatically. Certain fields have jobs, and many others don’t, so a blanket “get educated” directive will not succeed.
Third, too many young men finish yeshiva with a pathetically inadequate secular education. This has to be remedied, as noted above, and it will be complicated and diplomatically complex.
Fourth, no matter what we do in upgrading yeshiva secular studies, there is still the problem of those who have gone to work or want to start but are not qualified for anything with a reasonable salary. We must do something to help them NOW. I was told by someone who has great expertise and authority in the matter of off-the-derech kids that a major factor is the stress of family poverty. It also contributes to the divorce rate, depression, you name it.
One solution would be to start a nationwide cooperating-across-hashkafah-groupings agency that would provide:
1) Assessment of current skills, identifying which ones are lacking. When basic skills are lacking, the worker should be helped to upgrade them.
2) Guidance – testing the worker’s preferences and aptitudes, and combining this knowledge with what the job market is providing – or is expected to provide – to plan a career path, and what type of education or training qualification is required. Many higher-level jobs require only an Associates Degree with a specialization, which could be more practical for a person who is already married and supporting a family.
3) Identify educational/training resources available. This will vary from community to community. Some areas have excellent junior colleges or technical schools, others have none. In most cases this will require attendance at secular programs, so information should be gathered as to how “frum-friendly” the school is (for instance, do they gladly give time off for Yom Tov and reschedule exams, or do they do it only under pressure?)
4. Help the worker to choose, and then PROVIDE ONGOING SUPPORT. Going back to school after working as an adult can be stressful or bewildering. Encountering a secular environment for the first time can be intimidating or even, for some, shocking. Personal and rabbinic guidance should be provided throughout the educational process, and beyond into the phase of applying for the first job in the new field.
5. As noted in other posts, counseling should be provided for people who need help with feelings of failure who may need encouragement to keep up with the program while at the same time supporting the worker in being kovea ittim. Keeping a commitment – even if not large – to Torah study is a strong factor in resisting harmful secular influences, which will be met with on the job, not just during career studies.
6. Get the communities as a whole behind this. Each city/town should put together a committee of the local shuls, yeshivas, etc. that will ensure that the needs of the whole community will be met without anyone having to prove they belong to the “right” element, and without any pressure to conform to any one hashkafah. The word – which seems to get forgotten sometimes – is Achdus.
If we all work together and do our hishtadlus, we can receive Siyata D’Shemaya.